My name is J C Sum and I am an illusionist & illusion designer by trade.

I design original illusion effects & props for large-scale magic & illusion shows for professional illusionists all over the world. I work primarily with aluminum, wood, stainless steel and acrylic/ plexi glass.

When I’m not performing or designing illusions, I apply my expertise & experience to customizing Transformers, specifically Optimus Prime. I have customized dozens of figures but have posted my favourite ones on the blog.

In 2012, I was invited to customize a Transformers figure for the upcoming Cybertron Con 2012 at Resorts World Sentosa.

Cybertron Con is a convention for all Transformers fans stunning exhibition of TRANSFORMERS collectible toys as well as activities for fans to experience a wide variety of offerings from Hasbro’s toy line and entertainment in this bi-annual event.

I chose to customize the dual model kit Optimus Prime with my “signature” battle damage finish. The other choice was Bumblebee. It was a thrill to have my custom displayed at the convention alongside professional customizers.

Hasbro sent me the model kit and I got to work.

This was quite a tedious custom to do. Gundam customizers will find it run-of-the-mill as they are used too painting models but generally, all my customs have been assembled toys that I dismantle to customize. As a result, the process of painting and battle damaging is quite differet. I painted as I built up the model. This was more time consuming but ensured I got the right colours and textures for the completed model.

Some of the customization includes:

For the exo-skeleton, I used a flat black base coat then gave a dry brushing of gun metal followed by a dry brushing of chrome steel. This gives a nice textured and layered realistic look.

Some elements are given a complete chrome steel finish or straight gun metal finish to highlight features.

Lots of copper and gold trimmings were added to give detail to the otherwise plain exo-skeleton.

I reprinted in the red and blue parts, maintaining the flame patterns through careful brush strokes.